In recent days, the media have described further cases of subsidizing foundations associated with Law and Justice politicians from the state budget. We remind you of a few examples of where, how much and to whom public money flowed.
Subsidies from Minister Czarnek
In a series of articles, Justyna Suchecka and Piotr Szostak traced the subsidies awarded under the programs created by the Minister of Education, Przemysław Czarnek. They showed how it was distributed:
– PLN 40 million for “Development of the infrastructural potential of entities supporting the education system”. The highest subsidy – PLN 5 million – was awarded to the Polska Wielki Projekt Foundation, whose program council includes, among others, Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Glinski, PiS MEPs and the director of the Government Information Center Tomasz Matynia. PLN 4.9 million went to the Freedom and Democracy Foundation founded by Michał Dworczykformer head of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister. The secretary of the board of this foundation is Radosław Poraj-Różecki – privately the husband of Mirosława Stachowiak-Różecka, PiS MP and chairman of the parliamentary education committee.
– PLN 20 million for Intergenerational Educational Centers. The list of awardees included organizations associated with, among others: with a former PiS MP, local party activists, as well as Minister Przemysław Czarnek himself.
– PLN 10 million under the Education Support Program. The money went, among others, to foundations associated with PiS MEP, PiS senator, daughter of a PiS member. PLN 200,000 was also given to a foundation whose vice-president is an illegally convicted person for buying a driving license. PiS MP.
Last week there was a lot of talk about the purchase financed by the Ministry of Education, which was made by the Polska Wielki Projekt Foundation. The Foundation bought a villa in Warsaw’s Mokotów district from Polski Holding Nieruchomości, which is under the supervision of the minister Jacek Sasin. After seven years, the property can be used for commercial purposes.
Subsidies for the foundation founded by Dworczyk
Michał Dworczyk was the founder and for some time the head of the Freedom and Democracy Foundation. Until 2021, he was its founder, being at the same time the head of the prime minister’s office.
In total, from various sources, the foundation received subsidies in the amount of:
2013 – PLN 7.6 million, 2014 – PLN 13.6 million, 2015 – PLN 12.2 million, 2016 – PLN 10.2 million, 2017 – PLN 9.1 million, 2018 – 11, PLN 1 million, 2019 – PLN 12.1 million, 2020 – PLN 13.1 million, 2021 – PLN 15.6 million.
In 2020 and 2021, this foundation received money shared by the prime minister’s office headed by Dworczykthe foundation raised 8.5 million in 2020 and over 11 million a year later.
National Freedom Institute
Every year, non-governmental organizations are subsidized with National Freedom Institute. The money went, among others, to the Good Name Redoubt, where Antoni Macierewicz sits on the board, and whose president is a close associate of Minister Piotr Gliński. Another example is the Association of Artists for the Republic, headed by PiS MEP Zdzisław Krasnodębski.
In 2021, grants from this Institute were received, among others, by the already mentioned Polska Wielki Projekt Foundation with PiS politicians on the supervisory board. Hundreds of thousands of zlotys were also received, for example, by the Sanctus Paulus Association, whose president is the publisher of the local weekly, which in the last elections supported Andrzej Duda. The money also went to the Education to Value Foundation founded by the vice-president of Ordo Iuris Tymoteusz Zych, or to the Pomeranian Historical Initiative, whose deputy head is Roman Zwiercan, husband of the former PiS MP Małgorzata Zwiercan.
The government wants to allocate nearly PLN 890 million to the National Institute of Freedom over the next four years.
PLN 2.5 million for the Chłopika Foundation
Onet wrote on Monday about the grants from the National Institute of Freedom went to the Youth Initiatives Foundation. One of its creators and former president is Mariusz Chłopik – an informal adviser to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, one of his closest associates.
According to Onet, from 2019 the National Institute of Freedom transferred to the Youth Initiatives Foundation nearly PLN 2.5 millionand subsequent applications for funding have already successfully passed the formal assessment.
The portal also informed about how Chłopik’s wife’s company (Elżbieta – ed.) earned money on orders from state entities.
Subsidies for Bąkiewicz
A wide stream of public money also flowed to the organization of Robert Bąkiewicz, a nationalist, president of the Independence March Association. Related organizations: the Independence March Association, the National Guard Association and the Independence March Rota Association received a total of almost PLN 4 million from the budget until the end of 2021. The money was donated by the Institute of National Thought Heritage (PLN 3 million) and the National Freedom Institute (PLN 880,000).
In 2022, the National Guard and March of Independence associations were awarded another 850 thousand PLN as part of the project “Freedom in Polish – edition 2022”.
See the reportage “Black and white”: Mercy for the bankrupt
Main photo source: PAP/Piotr Nowak